#Sapphire18 | Finals Structure Announced

While BUCS controversy has garnered most of the attention in the community this week, it’s important to remember that the disruptive Beast from the East also blew away an entire weekend of Sapphire balling and, following BAFA Women’s Football taking the difficult decision to void all the weekend’s fixtures. essentially fast-forward us right to the Finals weekend!

The following was shared via BAFA Women yesterday, laying out the format of the upcoming 5v5 and 7v7 Finals for Women’s football on the 17th March.

Unfortunately, all teams were not able to take part in the last round of the Sapphire Series for the rankings due to the inclement weather. With teams having problems with hosting and travelling and no time before the finals to reschedule, BAFA Women made a blanket statement that all teams would be awarded 0-0 ties for the missed fixtures.

This leaves us with the following situation for each section of the Series:

7 v 7

Division One

The Division One Finals will be hosted by the Manchester Titans with all teams to take part. Division One is separated into two tournaments.

The Gold Tournament comprises the top two teams from the North and South who will compete for 1st-4th.

The Silver Tournament comprises the bottom two teams from the North and South who will compete for 5th-8th.

Division 1 Rankings:

The North

Record

The South

Record

1st

Leeds Carnegie Chargers

5-1-2

1st

Birmingham Lions

6-0-2

2nd

Manchester Titans

3-3-2

2nd

London Warriors

4-2-2

3rd

Edinburgh Wolves

2-4-2

3rd

Hertfordshire Tornadoes

3-3-2

4th

East Kilbride Pirates

0-6-2

4th

Derby Braves

1-5-2

Gold Tournament

Set 1

Game 1

Birmingham vs Manchester

Game 2

Leeds vs London

Set 2

Game 3

Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2

3rd and 4th

Game 4

Winner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2

1st and 2nd

Silver Tournament

Set 1

Game 5

Hertfordshire vs East Kilbride

Game 6

Edinburgh vs Derby

Set 2

Game 7

Loser of Game 5 vs Loser of Game 6

7th and 8th

Game 8

Winner of Game 5 vs Winner of Game 6

5th and 6th

Division 2A

The Division 2A Finals will be hosted by the Sandwell Steelers with all teams to take part. With slightly less teams in the Division compared to Div 1, there is no separation into two tournaments for the finals. This means any team could take the Division Title irrespective of their current ranking. Although the lower seeded teams will have the disadvantage of having to play three games over the day in order to do so.

The top two seeds from the North and South bypass the first Wildcard Round and advance straight to the semi-finals.

Division 2A Rankings:

The North

Record

The South

Record

1st

Sandwell Steelers

2-1-3

1st

Portsmouth Dreadnoughts

4-0-2

2nd

Chester Romans

2-1-3

2nd

Wembley Stallions

2-2-2

3rd

Teesside Steelers

1-3-2

3rd

Cardiff Valkyries

0-4-2

2A Finals Schedule

Wildcards

Game 1

Chester Romans vs Cardiff Valkyries

Game 2

Wembley Stallions vs Teesside Steelers

Semi-Finals

Game 3

Portsmouth Dreadnoughts vs Winner of Game 1

Game 4

Sandwell Steelers vs Winner of Game 2

Placement

Game 5

Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2

5th and 6th

Game 6

Loser of Game 3 vs Loser of Game 4

3rd and 4th

Finals

Game 7

Winner of Game 3 vs Winner of Game 4

1st and 2nd

5 v 5

Division 2B

The Division 2B Finals will be hosted by the Oxford Saints with all teams to take part. With four teams in the Division there is no separation of teams for the Finals. This means any team could take the Division Title irrespective of their current ranking.